There is a need for new low cost sensors, such as strain and/or pressure sensors. One application for such low cost sensors is in the disposable market, such as in the biomedical domain where single use devices are often used. Many other markets and applications also exist. In the past decade, there has been progress made in the development of polymer thin and thick films for use as flexible electronics and different sensing applications. For example, piezoresistive metal foils have been deposited on flexible polymer substrates to form strain gauges. Some drawbacks of these types of sensors include the de-lamination of the metal film over time, the relatively low resistivity of the piezoresistive metal, thereby requiring relatively large sensors, and rather low gauge factors for the metal foils.
Silicon Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) technology has also been used in manufacturing strain and pressure sensors, in some cases with the advantage of integrating the sensor and the supporting electronic circuits for signal conditioning and processing on the same chip. In spite of the well-established silicon MEMS technology, the cost of these devices cannot usually be reduced below certain limits, often due in part to the cost of the single crystal silicon substrate. Thus, there remains a need for new low cost sensors based on cheaper substrates.